Nile Gardiner is a Washington-based foreign affairs analyst and political commentator. A former aide to Margaret Thatcher, Gardiner has served as a foreign policy adviser to two US presidential campaigns. He appears frequently on American and British television, including Fox News Channel, BBC, and Fox Business Network.

Britain’s relationship with the EU is none of Barack Obama’s business

Elections have consequences. One of them is continuing US support for the European Project and the process of ‘ever closer union’, following Barack Obama’s re-election last November. Had Mitt Romney won, there would have been a very different approach towards the EU, with a far greater emphasis upon advancing ties with nation states in Europe as opposed to currying favour with Brussels. Romney’s approach was distinctly Eurosceptic, with frequent warnings against America ending up like Europe, with its big government, high tax approach.

As David Blair has reported, Philip Gordon, the US Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs, has just issued the latest edict from the Obama administration on Britain’s relationship with the EU, expressing his view that continuing British membership of the EU is "in the American interest":

Mr Gordon, the senior US diplomat with direct responsibility for relations with the EU and its member states, said that it was for the "British government and the British people to define their relationship with the European Union".

However, he stressed the importance that Washington attaches to Britain's current position as a leading member. "Britain has been such a special partner of the United States – that shares our values, shares our interests, has significant resources to bring to the table. More than most others, its voice within the European Union is essential and critical to the United States," said Mr Gordon.

"There are a lot of inevitably technical and detailed issues that have to be sorted out for every member of the European Union as it moves forward, but as a broad and general theme, we value a strong UK voice in a strong European Union."

… "We have a growing relationship with the European Union as an institution which has a growing voice in the world – and we want to see a strong British voice in that European Union. That is in the American interest," he said.

Gordon also made clear his support for the EU speaking with “a single voice”:

"We benefit when the EU is unified, speaking with a single voice and focused on our shared interests around the world and in Europe. The more the European Union is focused on its internal debates, the less it's able to be our unified partner abroad."

Mr Gordon added: "Every hour at an EU summit spent debating the institutional make-up of the European Union is one less hour spent talking about how we can solve our common challenges of jobs, growth and international peace around the world."

Unfortunately for Washington, that single European voice is often deeply anti-American in nature, and all too often working against the United States on the world stage. But this is a point that is lost on the US State Department, which traditionally backs European integration with all the zeal of a Herman Van Rompuy or Jose Manuel Barroso. The last thing America needs is a common EU foreign and defense policy that undercuts the NATO alliance and the Special Relationship while making it far harder for the US to build partnerships in Europe with individual allies on areas of common interest. It is simply ludicrous to believe that an artificially unified Europe will be in America’s national interest, let alone the interest of EU member states.

Philip Gordon has a long track record of backing the European Project – look at this piece he co-authored back in 2005 for Foreign Affairs urging Washington to “embrace the European Union” and “encourage Europe to develop the cohesion and capability to become a true transatlantic partner.” His latest rant on the EU will likely be repeated ad nauseum in the coming months and years by other Obama administration officials, and endlessly recycled by the propaganda arm of the European Commission. It directly follows a warning to Downing Street from the White House in late December that a British exit from the EU would weaken Britain’s standing on the world stage, and London’s relationship with Washington.

Fortunately, Barack Obama and his choir of pro-EU officials don’t have a say in deciding Britain’s future in Europe. That will be decided ultimately by the British people, when a referendum is finally held. And if anything, the ignorant and relentless hectoring from Washington will only encourage the resolve of those who are fighting to restore national sovereignty for Britain in Europe. Frankly, British policy on Europe is none of President Obama’s business. The present US administration is not only flat wrong on the EU, but it is also displaying a breathtaking arrogance that will win it few friends across the Atlantic in the second term of the Obama presidency.